Guys. A friend has a MusicHall 2.2 table-a la Project Debut/Expression hybrid. The original 8.6 arm damaged but rest of table is fine.
Replacement arm is hideous price in Australia (from Project suppliers-MusicHall agents were even more stupidly priced along with no local stock avail' just generally not interested...) and USA dealers will not supply to Aust due to importer trading agreements etc.Pity cos USA price much more sensible.
Been looking for a pre-loved low-med mass arm and found this JH Formula IV/Mayware unit. The cartridge will be a V15-3 so it's a high compliance unit hence I thought this JH IV may be OK. Looks like the arm is on a SME type mounting plate so pivot distance I thought would be OK.
Arm looks to have a lift device incorporated also.
Would any members please advise me of suitability?
Also I am not aware of the details of this arm but I read it needs damping fluid or Olive Oil "applied somewhere for something" ??
Please chime in with absolutely anything you think may help me on this-will be greatly appreciated.
Link to the arm being considered Mayware/JH IV unipoint tone arm (eBay item 280634371825 end time 28-Feb-11 10:01:49 AEDST) : Electronics
Thank you all..Regards.

Ray, hi there mate and thanks for the reply..I will look on that link immediately as I just realised the JH arm auction closes in about 3 hrs! You have done me a good turn-will let u know how it goes. Thanks again. Regards Laurie.

At that price go for it. I have a pretty comprehensive collection of paperwork that goes with the arm. Get back to me if you need it. I had a good look at mine and I reckon that the original had provision to be turned in to a mercury contact job that eliminated the torque from the wires at the base/pivot area just like the Keith Monks uni-pivot.

I could talk you through a conversion if your interested.

Regards Jonathan

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"It was the Springtime of the year when aunt is calling to aunt like mastodons bellowing across primeval swamps." P.G. Wodehouse.

I'm not a big fan of the Shure, but if you can get the arm for <$140 you should be doing well. I sold a lot of these, and should have one running soon.

Looks like the Mayware version (made in UK), the Australian made JH has a kink in the arm (at least mine does). I don't know what the little added bit on the back end of the arm is... damping goes into the well under the perspex pivot tower.

I have one of those arms, Australian made, on a JH turntable. I've used it with several cartridges over the years, most recently a Stanton 681EEE and a Shure V15 MkIII. I had no problems adjusting the weight and height to make the cartridge sit level. The "weight on a string" anti-skating worked well.

The pivot damping fluid needs to be very thick - mine has some sort of silicone fluid. The arm should be quite difficult to rock from side to side if the fluid viscosity is correct.

It tracks warped and rippled records extremely well, much better than an SME 3009 with the same cartridge.

One problem is that at one frequency, the arm tube / vestigial headshell has a severe torsional vibration. It's high Q and only shows up if you slowly sweep through the exciting frequency (test tone off a test record, slowly increase the turntable RPM.) I'm sorry, it was many years ago, I can't remember the frequency. I would recommend using the lightest high-compliance cartridge that you can live with. (High compliance will reduce the exciting force, light weight will raise the resonant frequency and lower the Q.)

At that price go for it. I have a pretty comprehensive collection of paperwork that goes with the arm. Get back to me if you need it. I had a good look at mine and I reckon that the original had provision to be turned in to a mercury contact job that eliminated the torque from the wires at the base/pivot area just like the Keith Monks uni-pivot.

I could talk you through a conversion if your interested.

Regards Jonathan

Thanks indeed Jonathan the mercury contact principle sounds fascinating-now that's something I hadn't been aware as a possibility. Gee I love this hifi hobby of ours..almost as much as I love s.. ,,,,,er, never mind hahaha..Must be my Queenslander humour starting to surface again..lol

Oh bugger..I bid a max of $125.00 and someone went to $158.00.
Ah..well back to the looking task..but I sure will keep an eye out for the Formula IV based on what I learned from you guys earlier this morning. Thanks again to you all.